Introduction
Turns out the world isn't all about Lions, Giraffes, Dogs, Cows, and Cats. Mother Earth has many organisms that are just now being discovered by scientists. Not only at the bottom of the ocean, either. A 6-foot long tree lizard and new African antelope were discovered this year. Chances are you aren't a scientist, so you've got some ground to make up before you are accused of not getting out much.
I'm speechless.
Source: wikipedia
Number 10: Angora Rabbit
The Angora Rabbit is the product of hundreds of years of domestic breading for its wool. It looks similar to a cat that has been on a power line, a cotton ball with a face, or a sheep with a straightener. There are actually multiple breeds of this rabbit, and they were very popular among French royalty. I'm curious if Elmer Fudd would hunt one of these guys. Check out this site that takes them very very seriously.
If you lived that deep, you'd look like that too.
Source: New York Times
Number 9: Dumbo Octopus
This little guy can be found at really, really deep places in the ocean. By deep I mean 7000 meters deep. It's not called the Dumbo Octopus because of its intelligence, either. It uses its ears to swim. Why does this guy make the list? Because he's kind of cute despite being one of the only species of Octopus that swallow its victims whole. No need to worry, he's only about 20 cm in length full grown. Scientists don't know all that much else.
And you think you've had a bad day...
Source: The Telegraph
Number 8: The Blobfish
Golly-gee that's one ugly creature. What was evolution thinking? Anyway, you might guess that this one isn't a fast swimmer. In fact, it just kind of hangs around the bottom of the ocean where all the other fish are at. The reward? Not having to move, it waits till it's micro-organism dinner floats by it. It doesn't even have to swim most of the time, as its body's tissue is slightly less dense than water, allowing it to float at the bottom of the ocean. How does it survive not being eaten? By not being tasty, in fact being inedible for humans. It's still endangered though--overfishing leads to these guys being hauled out of the ocean at a fast rate.
Not so photogenic
Source: here
Number 7: The Kakapo
This is a parrot. We know this because it likes to hang on shoulders and eats crackers[citation needed]. It is a New Zealand bird, primarily alive because of the lack of native mammal predators on the island of New Zealand. Among its qualities: Smells weird, barks like a dog, and is portly and nocturnal.
It is critically endangered because Europeans brought dogs and cats over to New Zealand, and once they learned the Kakapo's smell, were able to find them with ease. Once again an example of humans messing with nature. Poor Kakapos. At least it is fun to say their name.
Where did Cydro learn the most about the Kakapo? Right here.
Without arms it would be a snake or giant worm, both of which would cause me fear.
Source: here
Number 6: The Olm
Q: What has 3 toes on its front limbs, 2 toes on its back limbs, human-like skin, is blind, lives to 100 (some say only 60), lives in caves and oceans, and can go ten years without food?
A: You should have guessed from all those hints (and the subtitle)... the Olm.
This creature is unlike any other. It has great hearing and olfactory systems. Its olfactory system is so well made that it can sense quantity of small organic organisms around it. Many a fisherman became a believer in sea monsters after catching one of these creatures...just check out the picture to the right
The inspiration for TMNT
Source: here.
Number 5: The Matamata Turtle
This guy makes the list because he looks like a tank. From appearances, I think his shell/head could be bulletproof, fireproof, radiation proof, and toughest of all, child proof. I'm not sure about any of those though, as I didn't run into any in my research. The shell and head may look extremely tough, and probably are, but they are meant for camouflage. Just imagine if you were looking at this guy from above as he was still on the bottom of a creek. He/she would be very hard to distinguish, and also a nasty surprise if you stepped on him or her (coming from a person afraid of snakes and spiders). I can't imagine how the person who discovered this river monster felt.
Number 4: The Barreleye
The Barreleye to the right is one of the only ones ever seen alive. They have been documented since 1939, however most of the time nets or lines pierced the fluid bubble that makes this fish so unique.
So why does this fish have a transparent head? Well, it works like a cockpit. Its advanced eyesight is advanced even when pointing forward. However, it can rotate its eyes backwards and upwards to see prey and predators. Useful, eh? It also is one of the few animals on earth that can give away its anatomy without dying.
Too bad it dwells in deep water, or else I'd buy an aquarium for one of those things with hubpage money.
"I'm right behind you"
Source: here.
Number 3: Tarsiers
Tarsiers are interesting creatures.These little guys grow to be a whopping 5 inches. They eat insects and have been known to jump from tree to tree and eat birds.
Wait, what?
That's right. They're nocturnal and move very, very fast using their extremely bony looking fingers (and long tail). Females usually have about one little baby tarsier per year. What else is unnatural about these creatures? They can twist their heads 180 degrees like an owl. If they were any bigger then I'd be scared of them.
This once again proves that Mother Nature has more creativity than science fiction writers.
It was tough even finding a good picture.
Source: here
Number 2: Flying...Squid?
The reason that I couldn't find much information on the flying squid is because many people mistake it for flying fish. It was only within the last 20 years when the flying squid was actually seriously talked about in academic circles. If any of you readers are on the water very much you might know that flying fish zoom by and it is hard to distinguish their finer features from a boat. Flying squid are more rare and zoom by just as fast, and so we don't know much about them.
It has been recently confirmed by scientists that there is a flying squid known as the red or neon flying squid (its blue). We don't know how they jump out of the water or why. More research needs to be done on these things because its apparent that they don't even know what color they are.
Number one and my favorite: Darwin Bark Spider
Darwin Bark Spiders were a recent discovery (2009) and also mystify me the most. A couple of facts: Their silk is much stronger than other spiders' silk that have been studied. In turn, it is 10 times stronger than Kevlar (that stuff used to make bulletproof vests). Somehow they string their webs across rivers...don't you have to have two people to string something across the river? Maybe they swim across, who knows.
The best way to study them is by boat because that's the only way scientists can analyze their behaivors from a close distance. There is still a lot about them unknown because only local Madagascar tour guides knew about them for a very long time.
They eat bees, dragonflies, and mayflies (up to 32 mayflies have been in one web at a time). Soooooo, since we don't know that much about them, I'm going to make a hypothesis that their webs can catch birds, too.
Webs can reach 25 m across a river (perhaps more)
Source: About.com
And how could I forget...
The mimic octopus. Really guys, you should have mentioned this one in the comments or something. Somehow you should have discreetly let me know I left this one out. I don't know how it slipped my mind. Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend that you watch the video to let it speak for itself. So what makes it special? You might have guessed, by its name, that it mimics another aquatic animal. You'd only be partially right, because it can mimic many underwater species, and mimic them well. How well? In one example, it mimics a crab so that real crabs thinks that the octopus is a mate. Only then it devours the (probably shocked) crab that is trying to mate with it. Nature is a cruel, cruel beast. Imagine laying down with a hot date you picked up at the bar, only for it to turn into a rabid grizzly bear waiting to devour you. Ugh.
In another instance, the mimic octopus tricks one of its predators into thinking it's a snake by burying six to seven legs in the ocean floor. The snake that it's mimicking, by the way, preys on the fish that preys on the octopus. Extending the metaphor from before, one could say that is basically the same thing as your Mcdonald's chicken strips turning into what essentially looks like a rabid grizzly bear waiting to devour you. Smart, eh?
That's just the wikipedia synopsis (and a correlating metaphor) of the mimic octopus. I'd encourage you to research it further if you're interested in that kind of thing (marine biology).
I'd like to bring up another point. I've had the discussion before (parden my lack of sources and extended use of parentheses) that one measure of a species' intelligence might be how well they survive over very long periods of time. Of course many people assume that humans are the most intelligent species. A very strong case can be made for that. However, let us say that humans make weapons that, hmm, well, might be able to destroy entire cities. This is purely hypothetical. Let us say that humans use this superweapon on each other because a few humans fight over political ideals. The world is turned to ruin, and humans are essentially wiped from the face of the planet along with many other poor animals who got in the way. Let's face it, we've ruined many many natural habitats doing our thing and karma is not really on our side. Anyway, that would mean that humans as we know it have been on the face of the earth for MAYBE 2-3 million years. Your friend the mimic octopus, however, has been happily doing his thing for millions and millions of more years safely at the bottom of the ocean. So, humans were smart enough to create a weapon of incredible power and some other cool stuff like the drive thru, but so dumb that we blew ourselves up because we don't know if we like communism or democracy better. The octopus is smart enough to mimic at least five or six different animals, and also likely smart enough to have great great great great (x50 great) grandchildren. Which is smarter?
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